


Even When Apart

by Rosage



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: F/F, Long-Distance Relationship, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-17
Updated: 2018-04-17
Packaged: 2019-04-24 09:15:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 782
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14352489
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rosage/pseuds/Rosage
Summary: Jester makes a proposition to deal with the distance.





	Even When Apart

**Author's Note:**

> This is for Glitteringworlds, who also did me the favor of previewing it.

The only sound accompanying the rain’s patter is the soft snore of a stranger on the other side of the tavern--the perfect time of night for Yasha to enjoy a drink. Footsteps on the stairs intrude, quick and erratic, which Yasha recognizes before her twitching hand can reach for her sword. It clenches instead on the table. She rarely stays in one place long enough to learn a person’s sounds, but it’s hard not to when they’re so distinct.

Yasha shouldn’t be surprised when Jester pulls over a chair to sit not quite across from her. “Yasha! I’m glad to see you. I thought you might have left.”

“I can stay a little longer.” Yasha doesn’t know else what to say to Jester’s expectant look. They parted just that evening, when Jester scampered up to her room to finish some secret project. Yasha never pries, and surely nothing else has changed since then.

“I finished my project,” Jester says without prompting. “Did you know it’s hard to glue flowers without making a mess?”  
  
“I didn’t know that.”

“It’s fine though. I mean, it turned out super more than fine.” Jester’s hands wave in circles, like she’s winding up her thoughts. “I wanted to ask you something.”

Yasha waits, sure Jester will continue and unsure she’ll give a satisfactory answer. A list of things she can’t reveal scrolls through her mind, each secret more closely kept.

“Do you want to keep an exchange diary with me?

The list halts as if blotted with ink. “An exchange diary?”

“You know, we write or draw things for the other person, so when we see each other again we’ll know what we missed.”

Jester rests her chin in her hands, her pinky stroking where a matching stripe would be. Self-conscious, Yasha lifts her tankard to hide her own chin, causing Jester’s eyes to instead meet hers. They’re too intense to look at, lights bright enough to reveal everything Yasha hides.

“You know, I don’t know if I can share everything I do while we aren’t… together.”

“You don’t have to share everything. You could press flowers, or glue ribbons. Or, you know, if you really don’t want to, I could just write letters and give them to you every time we meet.”

Only to her? She’d assumed Jester was angling to get information. “Why?”

“I just thought it would be nice, that’s all. You’re always disappearing, and you know, sometimes people leave and don’t come back.” Jester’s arms wrap around themselves, then loosen as she tugs her sleeves. “I mean, I know you have some super important missions to go on for your god, and probably some superhero stuff too, so if you need to disappear, you’ll still be my friend. But I--”

Yasha sets down her tankard and holds up a hand. “I’m no superhero. I’ll have to keep going my own way, but I’m… I’m sure we’ll meet again. I just wondered what gave you the idea.”

“Every night before bed I keep my journal for The Traveler, but I don’t think--I hope he won’t mind if I do the same for you.” Just for an instant, her lips purse and wobble; Yasha wouldn’t notice if she weren’t avoiding eye contact. She trains her gaze off Jester’s lips, too.

“I don’t think he would mind.” _Every night._ She plans to think of Yasha every night? Just as Yasha is assuming she’ll forget, Jester pulls a journal out of her bag.

“Good, because I already drew in it. Oh, and I put some flowers on it because I know you like them.”  
  
Yasha takes it as carefully as she can in her large hands. The flowers on the cover are crushed, like Jester tried to press them without waiting. Cradling the book to avoid crushing them further, she runs a thumb along the spine. It’s thick for a journal, and she wonders if that means Jester expects a long time to pass in between exchanges, or for them to exchange it many times.

“It looks, um, very pretty. I’ll find something to put in it before I see you again.”

With a grin, Jester leans over to throw her arms around Yasha. Not trusting herself to release the book, she sits still with Jester’s hard horns against her jaw and her soft cheek against her neck.

“Thank you,” Jester says. “Oh, I can’t wait.”

“It’s late,” Yasha murmurs. She’s both relieved and disappointed when Jester releases her.

As Jester heads upstairs, she throws searching glances over her shoulder, like Yasha would have already left. Frozen with the journal still in her hands, Yasha watches the stairs long after Jester has disappeared from view.


End file.
